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I've got an old tube integrated amp I've been using it in many ways, particularly when I've bought my first CD player.
Back in the day, tubes were the <I>only</I> choice. Today, some audiophiles still consider them the only choice. Have you ever tried a tubed component in your system?
I have two sets of amplifiers in the main system, both tubed, both triodes, both amazing, but each fairly different in tech from one another (David Berning Seigfried vs Manley Labs NeoClassic 300B). Tubes are just devices that engineers paint with, and having tubes in your amp doesn't guarantee great soundbut, regardless of technology (tube or SS), having a brilliantly engineered product does just about guarantee great sound!
Why is it that a 10Wmusical instrument amplifier such as a guitar amp will in real life (and on stage) get loud enough to split your brain in half, yet it seems to take mega bucks and major stereo gear with 100s of watts to reproduce the same sound in your living room, a room that remains a fraction of the size of a live performance? Perhaps it's because everyone is going about it wrong, confusing convenience with performance. Ah!, Tubes.
I have always tried to eke as much performance out of my system as possible but always found that at some point (especially with digital sources) you get a case of "the glares" where the highs just hurt. And for many years I chalked it up to "definition" especially playing some of the mainstream pop/rock stuff that is available and I like to listen to (in toher words, crappy recordings). So with all of the recent press tubed stuff has been getting, I thought what the heck, and decided to try a tubed pre since I was in the market for one. One word: WOW! I will never go back to SS as my preever! Music has a musical quality, a flow, a reality, a depth that I have never heard with just a SS system (any SS system for the that matter, and I've heard a few). Now all you naysayers out there may call it distortion of the original signal, but if you listen to the music, truly listen, you'll know it sounds more like music and not like a dentist drilling your teeth. :) Best analogy I could think of! Tubes rule!
Yes, and it was an absolute, unmitigated, unalloyed disaster. It virtually never worked properly, blew up repeatedly, and neither the dealer nor the manufacturer would take adequate responsibility for it. I experienced a level of frustration high enough to adversely affect my health, and ended up wasting large amounts of time and losing thousands of dollars. It was the #1 worst purchasing decision of my entire 49-year life as a consumer. In any category. Bar nothing.
Warmer sound... I love my little tube amp this is used to move two 5" Vifa woofers with a Vifa. Best soun ever for such a little system. I have two transistor amps and I love them too one runing with B&W 802, and the other costum made spakers. I don't think one is better than the other. Some amps sound better with some speakers. Find the right match! Transistors have a better control on bass, tube have a better mids Ideal for vocals and Baroque classical ( Bach, Mozart). Transistors are better for jazz, rock, modern classical (Stravinsky, Mahler).